T-Mobile Announces eSIM For Connected Devices

T-Mobile is bringing its Un-carrier initiative to the Internet of Things with a new eSIM announced Tuesday aimed at helping customers avoid international roaming charges when traveling abroad with a connected car or smart watch. The eSIM will ship preconfigured from T-Mobile and is available for businesses starting today.

The Internet of Things, otherwise known as the M2M market, is growing rapidly and will comprise 30 billion connected devices by 2020, according to ABI Research.

"T-Mobile is uniquely situated to take a leadership position in the M2M market. We have the network, capacity and organizational nimbleness needed by companies bringing M2M products to market," said Drew Kelton, executive vice president, T-Mobile Business Markets in a press statement. "With eSIM, we're showing how we're different than our competitors. We're bringing Un-carrier to the M2M space by doing what T-Mobile always does: putting our focus on the customer first through simplicity, transparency and cost."  

T-Mobile says its eSIM can deliver huge cost-savings for businesses, citing an example of a trucking company with a route between the U.S. and Canada. The carrier estimates that between mapping, fleet tracking, video monitoring and other connected services, a single truck could easily incur a 100MB data roaming bill, which equates to around $200 per month or almost $2,400 per year.  With an eSIM, the trucking company would be subject to local data rates, provided T-Mobile has an agreement with a carrier in that country.

"The Internet of Things knows no boundaries. or at least it shouldn't have to," said Rusty Lhamon, director of M2M, T-Mobile. "This unique approach to cross-border wireless communication is designed to eliminate the issue of permanent M2M roaming and makes connectivity seamless and simple."

For now, T-Mobile eSIM only works in Canada, but the carrier says it will continue adding additional markets throughout 2014.